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Mr. Chope: I know that the amendment would not deal with my right hon. Friend's constituency, as probably none of it is made up of postcodes inside a rural area.
Mr. Forth: Many of the other amendments in the group probably would have a bearing on my constituency, but I am a bit anxious when I hear my hon. Friend say candidly to the House that this amendment may not contain a satisfactory definition of what is at its kernel. He is almost asking us to take on trust something as important as the definition of a rural area. Is he satisfied that the definition that we have or might have would not give rise to unacceptable anomalies on the borders between rural and adjoining areas? Can he give me that assurance?
Mr. Chope: I cannot give my right hon. Friend that assurance, because despite having considered the issues carefully, I accept that I have not dealt with the borders between rural and urban areas. Indeed, he has identified a further lacuna in the Bill. It would not cover cases in which the complainant is in one local authority area and the trees and hedges about which he is complaining are in another.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: My hon. Friend is now dealing with a whole new sector of the Bill, so I ask him to think
carefully about these amendments. He knows, as I do, that there are many problems with high hedges in rural areas. In an effort to get the Bill through this morning, I hope that he will consider not pressing these amendments.
Mr. Chope: I have not yet even come to all the amendments. I do not think the prospects of the Bill making progress this morning are terribly great, but it is possible that it will be reconsidered on 4 July and, if its proceedings are not completed then, on 11 July. I hope that my hon. Friend will be present in the House on the occasions when we can consider this and other groups of amendments further. People might think that the Bill is lost because we have not reached all the groups of amendments today, but that is largely the result of the fact that it appeared on the Order Paper immediately after another Bill, the consideration of which we knew would take some time.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: My hon. Friend has raised a number of very important points this morning. I urge the Bill's promoter and the authorities in the House seriously to consider listing the Bill so it can be debated on another Friday. I hope that it will become an Act.
Mr. Chope: My hon. Friend's sentiments are shared by my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Leigh) and myself. That is why we were disappointed that the Bill was not set down for a day on which it could have appeared first on the Order Paper. It would have appeared first if it had been put down for debate on 4 July.
Amendment No. 70 deals with tree preservation orders. I do not think that the Bill should override them. If it is thought that a tree that is subject to a tree preservation order should be chopped down, the first thing to do should be to go to the local authority and get permission to cut it down or prune it under the tree preservation order legislation.
Amendment No. 61 proposes that the provisions should not apply to any hedge growing in the curtilage of a school. This is relevant to the issue of peeping toms, and to schools that grow hedges in order to stop people looking at schoolchildren in a state of semi-undress.
Time is running out, but I am sure that we shall have time to come back to this issue on 4 July.
It being half-past Two o'clock, the debate stood adjourned.
Debate to be resumed on Friday 4 July.
Remaining Private Members' Bills
PENSIONS (WINDING-UP) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Sylvia Heal): Objection taken. Second Reading what day?
Mr. Frank Field (Birkenhead): As the Government have objected and blocked the Bill going into Committee, I shall bring it back on 11 July, when I hope that they will have had second thoughts, following pressure from the electorate.
To be read a Second time on Friday 11 July.
HOUSING (OVERCROWDING) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 11 July.
HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK (OFFENCES) BILL
Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Question, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
Debate to be resumed on Friday 11 July.
FOOD COLOURING AND ADDITIVES BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 11 July.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS MASTS (RAILWAYS) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 4 July.
EQUALITY BILL [LORDS]
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 4 July.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES SUSTAINABILITY BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 4 July.
CROWN EMPLOYMENT (NATIONALITY) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 4 July.
GOVERNMENT POWERS (LIMITATIONS) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Friday 4 July.
2.33 pm
Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Is there any way in which Hansard could record the fact that the objections to my Crown Employment (Nationality) Bill, and to the Health and Safety at Work (Offences) Bill were made by the part-time shadow Leader of the House, as he shuttles back and forth between that position and his part-time position on the Back Benches?
Madam Deputy Speaker: Objections are valid, from whatever quarter of the House, and from whichever individual, they come.
Hallmarking
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Jim Fitzpatrick.]
2.34 pm
Mr. Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh, North and Leith): I begin by congratulating the Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), on his appointment as Minister with responsibility for consumer affairs. I believe that this could be his first appearance in the Chamber in that capacity, and I wish him well in his new post, as I am sure that other hon. Members here today will.
My interest in the future of hallmarking arises from concerns raised with me by the Edinburgh assay office in the heart of my constituency, which is one of four such offices in the UK. The others are in London, Birmingham and Sheffield. Between them, they continue a tradition and legal obligation that has lasted 600 or 700 years—that gold, silver or platinum articles may not be legally described as such unless they are hallmarked by an independent agency to show who made them and what their precious metal content is.
The concern raised with me by the office in my constituency is now being raised by all four offices: for many years, the European Commission has been considering the introduction of legislation to harmonise the market in such items—in the interest, it says, of promoting freer trade in the Community. That is a worthwhile ambition, but it is important to emphasise the fact that harmonisation should maintain or enhance the consumer protection standards that we in the UK and other member states enjoy in this area. Harmonisation should not weaken or jeopardise those standards. Hallmarkers and the craft and jewellery industry are concerned that the hallmarking proposals before the Commission could threaten those high consumer protection standards.
When the European Commission presented a draft directive in 1993, the UK opposed it. The measure could not proceed because few member states actively supported it, and it has languished, for lack of active interest. However, there are strong indications from the trade that the Italian Government, who will hold the European presidency from 1 July to the end of the year, appear determined to revive progress on the directive and committed to achieving harmonisation that would dispense with the high customer assurance provided to the consumer by the hallmarking system operated in the UK.
Italy is one of four member states that use only a manufacturer's mark to certify the quality of gold or silver items—that mark is uncertified by any third party—whereas five have voluntary hallmarking schemes. Six member states, which comprise the greater number and include the UK, have compulsory hallmarking regimes. The core problem with the draft directive lies in annexe III, which, reflecting the Italian position, allows manufacturers or their representatives to claim conformity with the proposals and that the item in question is properly hallmarked by the use of a manufacturer's mark applied by the manufacturer without verification by an external agency.
The concern involves not only items produced in the EU, but the fact that the system would make it easier to import from third countries outside the EU gold and silver items that have no proper independent verification. That could include imports from countries where there has been much systematic fraud over a number of years.
Precious metals are not used in their pure form for jewellery, silverware and so on. They are used in alloys, and not even an expert can tell by sight or touch what the precious metal content of such an alloy is. If an expert cannot tell, the ordinary consumer certainly cannot—so customers risk being deceived, which is why it is important to have some guarantee of quality. The key to the debate is whether that guarantee is best provided by the manufacturer, his representative, or an independent third party with no commercial interest in the article. Of course, the latter position applies in the UK. I am told that last year, under the hallmarking system, the four assay officers between them identified and rejected more than 66,000 items that were below the standard claimed for them.
The Edinburgh assay office has drawn my attention to evidence from other countries that should make us reluctant to move away from the current system of compulsory and independent hallmarking. Finland abandoned its compulsory hallmarking system at the end of 2001, since when investigations into the market as it has now developed have shown that cases of serious swindling have increased, and cases of low fineness, in which the proportion of precious metal is found to be less than was claimed are now much more serious than before the abolition of compulsory hallmarking.
In Denmark, where a similar situation applies, a survey showed that 3 per cent. of goods marked by manufacturers were substandard. If the same percentage were applied to the total number of articles marked in the UK each year, 1.5 million substandard articles would be offered for sale each year, as opposed to the 66,000 that were found to be substandard last year.
Given the nature of precious metals, even small reductions in fineness of an item of gold or silver jewellery can, if made tens of thousands or even millions of times, result in large sums of money being wrongfully retained by the people who have incorrectly stated the proportion of precious metal in those articles.
There is also powerful evidence from outside Europe. In the United States of America, studies were carried out in a county in New Jersey, which found that over a four-month period in which random tests were carried out, two thirds of the articles tested did not meet the Federal Trade Commission's carating standards. A similar investigation showed that eight stores in Florida had been charged with such behaviour. In Princeton, a large variety of chains, rings, charms and earrings were tested, almost all of which responded to magnetic testing, which showed that they were not what they were claimed to be. Those items were stamped as products of Italy or Thailand. That problem is rife in many parts of the USA.
Interestingly, I am told by the Edinburgh assay office that checks carried out on the jewellery purchased by 8,000 consumers in India showed that 4,800 of them—60 per cent.—had substandard fineness of gold and
silver. It is not surprising that many countries that currently do not have an independent hallmarking system, including China and India, are showing interest in introducing such a system in their countries.A couple of years ago, the Department of Trade and Industry carried out a survey into the UK jewellery sector. It examined the hallmarking system and came to the view that the present system has a neutral impact on UK competitiveness. As a result of that, the Department held a series of meetings, which resulted in a declaration of intent by the British Hallmarking Council, the British Jewellers Association, the National Association of Goldsmiths, the assay offices and the local authority trading standards body, in which they stated that a single market for precious metals in the European Union was desirable. That wide range of organisations also thought that the hallmarking of articles sold in the UK must be given the same protection as is given by the present independent system, so that people can have the same confidence in it. For that reason, the proposals in the draft directive—specifically those in the third annexe, to which I referred—were totally unacceptable to that wide range of organisations, drawn from retailers, producers, independent agencies and local authorities.
I want to highlight a third issue that is of particular importance to Edinburgh, to my constituency, of course, because the assay office is located there, and to the rest of Scotland. Acceptance of a directive in anything resembling its present form would probably lead to the eventual closure of the Scottish assay office and end the existence of the Scottish hallmark, which is particularly sought after by tourists—especially those from the USA, Canada and Japan—as well as by consumers from this country.
Besides the almost certain loss of most, if not all, of the 40 jobs in the Edinburgh assay office, there would be other serious consequences, which would have a much wider impact. For example, I am told that a national retailer, John Lewis, has launched and promoted a range of hallmarked silverware in Scottish branches and its sales have increased by 40 per cent. as a result.
In addition to sales lost to the Scottish economy, the closure of the Edinburgh assay office would end the funding that it provides to art colleges in Scotland, to promoting design and craft skills and to staging major exhibitions at a number of galleries in Scotland. I understand that the assay offices in England also offer such support for the wider community. All that would be put at risk, and could be terminated very quickly, if the current independent hallmarking system were to end in this country.
My hon. Friend the Minister will know that I recently asked a number of parliamentary questions on this subject, and I greatly welcome the assurances that I was given in answers by the then Minister, who has now moved to another Department. The positive response from my hon. Friend's predecessor was a tribute to the campaign of those concerned about the future of the industry, and, of course, to the many Members of Parliament on both sides of the House who have supported my early-day motion on the subject. I hope that my hon. Friend will reiterate the commitment given by his predecessor, but also that he will be able to take that commitment further.
As hallmarking is one of those issues subject to majority voting in the European Union, it may not be enough for the UK—to put it in the terms used in the answer to my question last month—simply not to support the draft directive. I would ask the Minister for a commitment to go further, positively to oppose the draft directive if it is introduced in Brussels, and to take every step that he can to ensure that any move to reintroduce that directive is blocked in the EU institutions.
Finally, it would be helpful to myself and those who are also interested in the issue if my hon. Friend would tell us what is his information about the support for, or dissent from, the draft directive in its present form among member states. There have been rumours that the member states that will join the EU next year have been told by some sources in the European Commission that they must give up independent hallmarking as part of the process of joining the EU. I hope that those rumours are unfounded. I am sure that my hon. Friend would agree that if they are not, that would be a totally wrong position for the Commission to take. I look forward to his reassurance today, or at a later date, that those rumours are unfounded and that the British Government would resist any such move.
My hon. Friend the Minister, and the House, will know that I am a strong supporter of British membership of the EU. Of course, to be a supporter does not mean that one does not fight vigorously for the interests of one's constituency and one's country, as I am sure my hon. Friend will agree. This is one such example. The adoption of the draft directive would mean less protection for consumers, extra costs for manufacturers and Governments and, if imports with lower safeguards were let in unchecked, it would undermine the tried and trusted British hallmarking system.
I welcome the Government's statements to date on the issue, and I invite my hon. Friend the Minister to reiterate their opposition to the draft directive and to commit the Government to pursue that opposition in the most vigorous manner open to them.
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